FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT RODNEY CULVER - PAGE 5

This is the best division, they say. It was the only one without a losing team last year. The Kansas City Chiefs had the best regular-season record in the whole NFL, 13-3. The San Diego Chargers were in the Super Bowl two years ago. The Seattle Seahawks, Denver Broncos and Oakland Raiders were all 8-8 and the Raiders had to lose their last six to do that. It is a division with three starting quarterbacks who have been to Super Bowls--the Raiders' Jeff Hostetler (with the Giants)

Sorry folks. You missed a dandy. Notre Dame doesn`t always play great, but it showed again Saturday why the 1989 edition has the potential to be great. It wins and it wins and it wins. No matter what-it wins. In a contest that ABC and just about everyone else thought would be a blowout, the Irish overcame a bushel of their own mistakes and an emotionally charged Stanford team to beat the Cardinal 27-17. The victory extended Notre Dame's streak to 17 victories. ABC had canceled its planned TV coverage because it feared a lopsided victory, but it took another brilliant runback by Raghib "Rocket" Ismail in the third quarter to set up a 16-yard drive that broke a 14-14 tie as well as the back of a well-coached Dennis Green team.

With little at stake, the Irish were to play for pride and maybe a little fun Saturday. Instead, they looked tired, disinterested and bored by it all as Penn State tore them apart 35-13. The Irish are reported to have all but formalized their bid and acceptance to the Sugar Bowl, but they didn`t look like a team worthy of playing in one of the prestigious bowls on New Year's Day. They were outgained and outgunned by the Nittany Lions (9-2), who are reportedly headed to the Fiesta Bowl to face Tennessee who whipped the Irish (8-3)

Notre Dame may rise to the top of the polls this week, but the stay could be a short one. The Irish must take on tough Tennessee this Saturday in front of more than 91,000 screaming fans at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville. And for the second week in a row, it looks like the Irish will be without their defensive anchor, Chris Zorich, in the middle. Trainer Jim Russ doesn`t expect Zorich to play. Neither does coach Lou Holtz. And Zorich? He says, "I would sure love to, I want to," but fears that he probably won`t.

Notre Dame is lucky this one wasn`t on pay-per-view television. The Irish's horrified fans would be demanding refunds. In a game they only had to play for pride, the Irish played like stumblebums, staggering to their worst loss in nearly three years. A sharp Penn State team (9-2) sliced them and diced them, chewed them up and spat them out, scoring three touchdowns before the Irish had a first down. The final score was 35-13, but it didn`t seem that close as the Irish dropped throws, misfired passes, fumbled handoffs and kicks in their sloppiest effort since losing the Cotton Bowl Jan. 1, 1988.

More people are starting to recognize members of the Wheelchair Bulls than they are some of the newer players on the city's other Bulls team. And, get this, you can actually hear the crowd when the Wheelchair Bulls play at the United Center. "We've been very well-received," said player-coach Greg Palumbo. "I've had more and more people stopping me in the parking lot after games." Still, the team would like to see its following continue to grow, especially since the Wheelchair Bulls are currently ranked No. 13 out of 140 men's wheelchair teams in the U.S. and Canada.

The Notre Dame campus was unduly quiet this week after the din preceding the Miami game. It was midterm break-at least for those students who are not athletes. For the Irish football squad, it meant more time for coach Lou Holtz and his staff to try to spur his 5-1 team to get better. The usual 2 1/2 hours a day was consumed on the practice field, but more time was spent in film and skull sessions dissecting fundamental techniques of individual players. In addition to it being midterm break, it is also the midway point of the season and terribly tempting to issue a report card on the Irish.

For the first half, it was hard to tell who was who. Notre Dame's Fighting Irish and Navy's Midshipmen both sport the same blue and gold colors. And for 30 minutes you couldn`t tell by the uniforms or the play which team was likely to move up to No. 1 in the next college poll and which one had only one victory over a Division I-A school. The final was 52-31 in favor of the Irish, but it was 10-10 at halftime as Navy befuddled Notre Dame with an option offense the Midshipmen haven`t run all year.

Tailback Rodney Culver still is hobbled by a sprained ankle and may not play against Stanford, but he has become a valuable member nevertheless on the Notre Dame dress list for Saturday. Coach Lou Holtz wants to make certain the Irish don`t have another foulup at the coin toss like they did last week against Purdue. Culver didn`t make that trip and linebacker Devon McDonald was so excited about standing in for Culver at the coin toss that he botched Holtz's instructions. As it turned out, the Irish ended up kicking off to begin the game and to start the second half.

Lou Holtz made his point and, like a disgraced warrior, Michigan State fell on it. Holtz, upset his Notre Dame squad gained only 78 yards rushing a week earlier, put away his whistle and let his offense get beat up in practice last week. Saturday, they took it out on the Spartans. The Irish handed Michigan State its worst loss in seven years, a 49-10 battering that could have been more dreadful for MSU if Holtz hadn`t taken out his entire first string mercifully with four minutes to go in the third quarter and if two freshmen hadn`t lost fumbles in the fourth period.